The patent is directed to a multi-player game, and more particularly to a multi-player game having an electronic instruction unit providing game instructions to the players during the course of gameplay, and including a mechanical die agitator and an electronic randomizer with colored LEDs for controlling gameplay.
Various games having mechanical die agitators for randomly designating numbers and colors have been previously described. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,323,248 to Zingale discloses a board game including a board and a chance-taking means for determining and random manner the play of game cards. Four separate chance-taking means are included as part of the game apparatus, each chance-taking means dealing with a separate category such as shape, color, number or letter. A plurality of directional cards are placed at the center of the game board and, when drawn, control the direction of player movements about the board. The board includes indicia indicative of various directions in which player movements can be made. Each player is dealt a plurality of play cards having indicia on their faces representative of different shapes, colors, numbers and letters. The basic objective of the game is to rid oneself of all play cards. By sequential activation of the separate chance-taking means, each player moves to different positions on the board where the taking or discarding of additional cards is required. Inactive players may gamble on whether an active player will succeed in discarding a particular card. If the gamble is successful, the gambling players are permitted to discard gambled cards.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,450,408 to Hagerman discloses a randomizer die assembly which is operative for randomly designating a color. An electrically illuminated educational toy takes the form of a hollow die. A light bulb is provided in a discrete compartment behind each face, and the die encloses a battery and conductive means for causing only the die face which is on top to be illuminated in any at rest position of the die. The bulbs may be distinctively colored and each die face desirably has printed on it the name of the color which it displays. A composite mercury switch located within the die includes a hollow sphere of non-conductive plastic material having six protruding mercury switch wells corresponding to each of the faces of the die. The light for the corresponding face is illuminated when a small body of mercury within the composite switch is disposed within one of the wells.
Various games having electronic randomizers have also been previously described. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,669,728 to Carden discloses an electronic base game apparatus including an internally powered electronic playing piece containing a random number generator that drives a visual display within the playing piece for displaying one or more numbers or dot patterns corresponding to the dots displayed by one or two dice which have been rolled. A magnetic field sensor within the playing pieces responsive to a magnetic field-producing element within a base forming part of the apparatus in causing a high-frequency oscillator within the playing piece to stop, causing a counter connected to the output of the oscillator to transfer random numbers based upon the accumulated count to the display input drive lines, and causing the display, which is dark in the absence of a magnetic field energizing the playing a piece of sensor, to display the numbers.